This is a very scarce example of an early Mannlicher pistol-carbine designed by Ferdinand Ritter von Mannlicher of Austria. The Mannlicher carbine is lightweight and very compact, semi-automatic carbine that uses a blowback, short recoil action with a concealed internal hammer. It has a reciprocating cocking lever mounted on the right side of the frame that doubles as a means to both cock the hammer and as a hammer position indicator. It is loaded via stripper clips through the top of the action and has a detachable double-stack magazine assembly mounted in front of the trigger guard. It has an integral blade front sight/front barrel band, and the rear of the receiver is mounted with a short military style tangent rear sight graduated "1-4" (100-400 meters). The left side of the receiver, both barrel bands, and the buttplate are all numbered "860". The base plate of the magazine is numbered "488". It is fitted with a small round forearm that encompasses the complete outside of the barrel and a pistol grip style walnut stock with a steel buttplate.

Very fine with 80% plus of the original blue finish overall, edge and high spot wear, some thinning on the frame rails, and browning on the upper and lower tangs of the receiver. The stock and forend are both in very fine condition with a nice light colored walnut, some slight figure to the forend, and some minor light handling marks. A very fine example of a desirable early Mannlicher Model 1901 pistol-carbine. Provenance: Robert M. Lee Collection.